The last few years have accelerated change in nearly every industry. Innovations, post-pandemic realities and a shifting consumer landscape have changed customers’ and clients’ priorities, communications preferences and even the nature of competition.
In higher ed, for example, universities must now compete against the other life paths that a high school graduate could choose. They’re investing more heavily in recruiting nontraditional students and selling potential applicants on the value of a college degree itself – not just the value of their institution.
In commercial real estate, property owners and brokers are adjusting their offerings and strategies to better fit America's new normal of hybrid work and the dramatic shift in tenant needs. Their old marketing messages won’t strike the right chords today.
Savvy business leaders are used to reassessing the marketplace and making strategic pivots. But when the market dictates significant and industrywide shifts, it creates an urgent need to revisit the foundation of your communications – your brand positioning – to ensure you are sharing your values, story and offerings in a way that resonates with your audience and their current needs.
Your brand positioning is the heartbeat of your company. It is the space you occupy in the minds of your most important audiences and what orients key stakeholders around the brand experience, differentiators and values. If it no longer fits your market environment, it’s time to re-evaluate.
Here are some questions to ask as you get started:
- Does our internal perception of the company match what our key stakeholders think about us today?
- Who is our audience now, and how have their needs changed?
- Have we evolved? Has our offering shifted to meet the needs of those we serve? And if so, does our current brand salute and represent that reality?
- How can we better frame our services, values and differentiators to meet their current needs and expectations?
- Where does our brand fit within the competitive landscape, and are our communications effectively telling that story?
When we walk clients through this process, we pair landscape analysis and competitor research with in-depth, guided conversations with a client’s key stakeholders. This comprehensive process pinpoints a brand’s strengths, differentiators and market position, leading to a fully informed recommendation on how the brand should evolve to meet the moment.
A healthcare provider, for example, may find that employers with self-funded insurance plans are an important new audience that isn’t reflected in their current positioning. With a few strategic shifts, they could position their services more clearly and powerfully to meet the unique needs of employers and more effectively attract new business.
While strategies and offerings may shift regularly, we find that a brand’s central positioning can get overlooked. Taking the time to re-evaluate exactly where you fit in the marketplace and how you can uniquely serve your clients and customers will pay off with a clear brand position that effectively breaks through the noise and captures the attention of your key audiences.